A young humanitarian who is passionate about youth development, Chloe Hannah Kisten from Durban obtained her Bachelor of Child and Youth Care at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) 2024 Spring Graduation, which was held at the Durban Exhibition Centre on Thursday, 19 September 2024.
The 23-year-old Kisten joined DUT in 2020 during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and was meant to graduate in 2023 but due to unforeseen circumstances she was delayed. She was excited to finally get a chance to walk the graduation stage to obtain her much anticipated qualification.
“As a student I struggled a lot with coping with the pressures of funding and having to ensure that mentally I wasn’t neglecting myself in the process. Studying online during COVID-19 was a challenge, everything became much harder to grasp and understand. Through this I channelled my difficulties into spending time in my faith to just help my mental health by prayer. I later got a bursary and ever since due to my first year results I was eligible for a bursary that was used throughout my studies,” shared Kisten reflecting on her study journey at DUT.
She further revealed that asking for help when it was needed and doing further research on her studies helped her to successfully complete her studies. Speaking about her choice of study, Kisten indicated that she always had a passion for young people and helping and serving others.
“My passion started from a young age and being able to learn more and find different means to do this through studying my degree meant I had more tools and skills and knowledge on how to better the passion, desire and the love I have for others,” added Kisten.
She aspires to impact and change the generations to come. Kisten believes there are many cruel things that are happening to young people of today and as she believes by working with others they can strive towards a better future. Her main dream is to one day own a shelter for young children where she will provide hope and help them succeed in life.
“My humanitarian work started in 2016 during my high- school years and this included local community projects and empowerment programmes. Anything that had to do with meeting the needs of a given area or country or city. I struggled at first to juggle my humanitarian work with my studies but later I found that my passion was so great that I was able to plan ahead and do things in advance so I would have the time. I never always had it right but I managed to find my feet,” reiterated Kisten.
She shared that she recently visited Uganda, leading the group called Meeting The Needs Foundation where she was involved in community outreach programmes, helping the less fortunate and doing missionary work.
Her advice to those wishing to follow in her footsteps is to remember that at first it will be tough and things may not always work in their favour, but they need to keep steady in their faith, beliefs and goals.
“Always strive to do the best you can with whatever means you can. It is okay to fail and not always get things right but persevere because many stormy days produce beautiful rainbows. I look forward to hopefully one day being able to be a part of something bigger and greater and meeting new networks along the way,” concluded Kisten.
Pictured: Chloe Kisten who recently obtaining her Bachelor of Child and Youth Care.
Photographer: Mnqobi Ngobese.
Simangele Zuma
